"These represent (a) reported earnings plus (b) depreciation, depletion, amortization, and certain other non-cash charges...less (c) the average annual amount of capitalized expenditures for plant and equipment, etc. that the business requires to fully maintain its long-term competitive position and its unit volume (If the business requires additional working capital to maintain its competitive position and unit volume, the increment also should be included in (c))...Our owner-earnings equation does not yield the deceptively precise figures provided by GAAP, since (c) must be a guess - and one sometimes very difficult to make. Despite this problem, we consider the owner earnings figure, not the GAAP figure, to be the relevant item for valuation purposes - both for investors in buying stocks and for managers in buying entire businesses...All of this points up the absurdity of the 'cash flow' numbers that are often set forth in Wall Street reports. These numbers routinely include (a) plus (b) - but do not subtract (c)."

* All numbers are in millions except for per share data and ratio. All numbers are in their local exchange's currency.

* Premium members only.

Energy Transfer Equity LP Annual Data

Aug07

Dec08

Dec09

Dec10

Dec11

Dec12

Dec13

Dec14

Dec15

Dec16

Owner Earnings per Share (TTM)

-0.67

-0.10

-0.03

-1.21

-1.67

Energy Transfer Equity LP Quarterly Data

Dec12

Mar13

Jun13

Sep13

Dec13

Mar14

Jun14

Sep14

Dec14

Mar15

Jun15

Sep15

Dec15

Mar16

Jun16

Sep16

Dec16

Mar17

Jun17

Sep17

Owner Earnings per Share (TTM)

-1.41

-1.67

-1.72

-2.19

-2.08

Competitive Comparison

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap.

"These represent (a) reported earnings plus (b) depreciation, depletion, amortization, and certain other non-cash charges...less (c) the average annual amount of capitalized expenditures for plant and equipment, etc. that the business requires to fully maintain its long-term competitive position and its unit volume. (If the business requires additional working capital to maintain its competitive position and unit volume, the increment also should be included in (c))...Our owner-earnings equation does not yield the deceptively precise figures provided by GAAP, since (c) must be a guess - and one sometimes very difficult to make. Despite this problem, we consider the owner earnings figure, not the GAAP figure, to be the relevant item for valuation purposes - both for investors in buying stocks and for managers in buying entire businesses...All of this points up the absurdity of the 'cash flow' numbers that are often set forth in Wall Street reports. These numbers routinely include (a) plus (b) - but do not subtract (c)."

3. Other non-cash charges usually include "Stock Based Compensation" and "Change In Deferred Tax":
However, to be conservative, GuruFocus will not add Stock Based Compensation back to net income.
Energy Transfer Equity LP's Change In Deferred Tax for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Sep. 2017 was $-182 Mil.

It is usually best to take a long-term average of maintenance capital expenditure. Ideally this would be as long as 10 years and include at least one economic downturn. However, since many companies do not have as long as 10-year history, here GuruFocus uses the latest 5 years data to do the calculation. To smooth out unusual years but reflect recent developments, we take an average of the 5 year maintenance capital expenditure.

5. "Change In Working Capital" is from cashflow statement. Energy Transfer Equity LP's Change In Working Capital for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Sep. 2017 was $113 Mil.
Note: GuruFocus' Change in Working Capital is provided by Morningstar. It is calculated by adding the items under "Change in operating assets and liabilities" (may refer to a different name for different company) section in Cash Flow Statement from original financial report. And sometimes it includes non-current parts of assets and liabilities.

* All numbers are in millions except for per share data and ratio. All numbers are in their local exchange's currency.

Be Aware

Assumption: Companies usually do not report maintenance capital expenditures and growth capital expenditures separately. Here we use estimated numbers and average them over 5 years. The method to estimate maintenance capital expenditures can be found in above part 4.

Note: GuruFocus' Change In Working Capital is provided by Morningstar. It is calculated by adding the items under "Change in operating assets and liabilities" (may refer to a different name for different company) section in Cash Flow Statement from original financial report. And it includes non-current parts of assets and liabilities.

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